Tweets Doomed NBA Star's Application for Injunction over Basketball Wives: L.A.

    September 15, 2011

    Orlando Magic basketball star Gilbert Arenas has failed to obtain a preliminary injunction to block the airing of Basketball Wives Los Angeles, the ABA reports.

    Arenas had sought an injunction based on his claims of trademark infringement and misappropriation of likeness for footage involving the relationship with his former girlfriend, Laura Govan.U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of Los Angeles denied Arenas’s request for an injunction, rejecting his argument that “his private life wasn’t a matter of public concern.”

    In rejecting his application for an injunction, the Court noted Arenas’ “mundane” tweets about his private life “muddled” his claims and that his claim  for trademark infringment “fails to articulate a coherent theory of infringement.”  The Court  also found that the show was protected by the First Amendment, defeating the misappropriation claim, for two reasons:

    First, the value of Basketball Wives isn’t derived from celebrity fame. “At its core, the show is about the women who have or have had relationships with basketball players rather than the players themselves,” she wrote.

    Second, [the Court determined] the show deserved First Amendment protection because it covered a matter of public concern. Arenas had contended a discussion of his family life wasn’t sufficiently related to his celebrity to make his identity a matter of public concern. [The Court] didn’t see it that way. “This contention is belied by the tens of thousands of Twitter users who follow Arenas as he tweets about a variety of mundane occurrences,” [the Judge] wrote.

    Arenas’s tweets of his daily life reportedly included “Dont u hate waking up doing the same thing .. wash face .. brush teeth .. pee .. take shower (well sum of us) … put on clothes … eat … etc.”


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